Dylon Harrison

Staff Writer

As the search for ISU’s next president progresses, the five finalists are beginning to visit campus to answer questions from students and faculty. The first finalist to visit was Kevin Satterlee.

Satterlee currently works at Boise State University as chief operating officer, a position he has held since 2015. Before being promoted to this position, he served as BSU’s vice president.

Satterlee is campaigning with the idea that empathy for the needs and wants of students should be a university’s top priority in order to deliver the best education possible.

“Our mission is to deliver education,” Satterlee said. “I want to come here because I have a passion for that mission.”

Satterlee said he wants to build relationships between the students and faculty, as well as play to the strengths specific to ISU, to keep ISU at the forefront of quality education.

“The creation of new knowledge is why we’re here,” Satterlee said.

If chosen as ISU’s next president, Satterlee plans to hold frequent meetings and forums with members of the student body to find out what they think needs to be done to improve the school’s quality.

Satterlee plans to begin building relationships with students as soon as possible if chosen.

“My favorite day of the year to come to work is the first day of fall classes,” Satterlee said.

He said he also hopes to create a student experience that is strong enough to create a lifelong loyalty to ISU when students become alumni. He said he believes this has to be done within the first six months after a student arrives at the school.

Satterlee also said, if chosen to be president, he will personally be reaching out to employers to find out what they look for in graduating students when making the decision whether to hire them. He then plans to examine and adapt the curriculum to ensure it gives students the preparation they need to find a career.

His plan is to create an environment at ISU where everyone, from students to faculty, are working together to make ISU as good as it can possibly be. He said he plans to focus on improving ISU, without being concerned about what the surrounding schools are doing.

“Idaho State University has the potential to be unstoppable,” Satterlee said.

Satterlee also plans to spearhead the university’s fundraising if chosen to be president. “The president is the primary fundraiser for the campus,” Satterlee said.

He said he hopes to give donors a reason to be excited about donating to ISU, to give them more incentive to donate.

All of these plans combine to form what Satterlee said is one of his main goals, to create a culture at ISU where students success become an expectation, rather than just a hope.

At the faculty forum, Satterlee’s qualifications to be president were called into question, due to his lack of degrees in education. Satterlee said his devotion to providing an education, as well as the commitment he would give to the university are his real qualifying traits.